DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY REGISTRY FILE The movements of this file are to be recorded only on this cover. This cover is to be used only for Central Registry Files . Tran,it Post to Initials of Transit Post to Initials of which passed. Date. officer which passed. passing File. passing File. Ash~r t. Co. Pty. Ltd. Daer~ BaiM1ab Oo.monvealth Parl2at Ort1.oe1 I ref aptn tct 10QJ' lett ot 28tb Oe\Obn, 19'7, aaHnc tor 1nromati.a ~ the 11bt!M .r ''nident1t1e4 t.b1llC obJeou 1n re:J] 1r.dn1 d'aualoM v!\h the Depart EDU ot ll&V and Ab lt ba be tabltA tba' DOM of the ebaa1at!an1 n;ortecl 1D the lan twel mtU '* plaae 'Vihen n ... 'lt~ ae.ral uaa1 er da alr f'orae D h.oli r;n .t tnMnlitiid av5all ~-baa M hwtlptea. .U ~I .t 11 repo:rl reoeiv.iil ~i'1nc the Wt twelw 2 were uteor0~ brJlocme, 5 were v1 prob&bq alroraft ant tnntttoimt m.cltM - ... ,]able to deala. the natu;N or the n.i11dft. I eq ' ....a 'ta\ I aa tw.q avue ot the n4 ror tntoatng the ,abl on 19 ln thia fteli Utd 1a th .,_, .t nr..._tion of V la;ertanee bt!ng ,p1n1I \hU .. ,,,, WUl m le.,\ 1a ld.nt. Jl.I. latadia, E9e1., ~4 Wood Strae\, .Pf a ''Lll lean ime17 . e . CRAMER raft Lett r herewith or Chief of the General Star National Archives of Australia TELEPHONES: ~Ct MXY 550 ~ t' COM . ONWEAL TH NAVY OFFICE. VICTOltlA.f'-:;8 ST KIL.OA ROAD NAVAL BRANCHES, I I ALBERT PARK llARRAa<S. TELEGRAPHI C ADDRESS: "NAVY, MELBOURNE." The Secretary, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY. UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS. OF AUSTRALIA DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY NAVY OFFICE, MELBOURNE, S.C.1. Ref: Letter A31/1/102 {G4) of 15th November, 1957 I desire to inform you that the last report of unidentified flying objects received by this Department was in 1954. 2 . During a night cross country flight from R. A.N. Air Station, Nowra, the pilot of a naval aircraft observed lights on his radar with vague shapes beneath. The lights passed ahead of him at a very fast speed whilst he was flying at 220 knots. 3 . All reports are passed to R.A.A.F. Intelligence, where they are collated and examined. S e c r e t a r y . National Archives of Australia COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA TELEPHONE: DEPARTMENT OF AIR TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS: " A IRFORC E MELBOURNE" I N REPLY QUOTE..J.lli 1/~91 Secretary, Department of the Army, Victoria Barracks, St. Kilda Road, MELBOURNE. If!I NI STERI AL : UI~IDEI'iTIFI ED FLYING OBJECTS MELBOURNE. S.C.l. With reference to your A31/1/102(G4) dated 15th November, 1957, this Department bas received 11 official reports of unidentified aerial phenomena in the last twelve 2. Each report h::1s been i n-v-estJ ec~ted to the best of our ability, out, in most cases, the information received has been very sketchy. Our j_n,restigations showed that of t he 11 renorts 2 were lnet eoroloui ca l balloons and 5 were very probably aircraft. Insufficient evidence was available to decide t}:1e n'3-tu1~e c)f the remainder. However, on the basis of vvide investigtitions carried out in the United States, it is probable that the u nexplained reports did not relate to anytl1ing 3. I t will be a ppreciated, therefore, that we have insufficient data availaple at this Department to be in a position to make a comprehensive stttdy of the Sllbject, Rnl' vie l1a.ve no inforrria ti on of any importance whi eh is worth releasing to the publico 4 . Regarding l\'Ir . Baudisl1' s discussions with members of t h e R. A. A. F . concerning uniden tified flying objects, only one report has ever been received from a R. A. A. F. member, and the phenomena-he reported was almost certainly an aircrafto In addition, to the best of our knowledg e , none of the observa- tions during t he l a s t twelve months took place anywhere nea r mili tar~1 eirerci s e areas or during air force exerciseso National Archives of Australia National Archives of Australia NAA: MT1131/1, An/1/102 Dear Mr. Baudish, I refer to your letter of 28th October, 1957 asking for 1nf ormat1on regarding the sighting of unidentified flylng objects 1n the vicinity of military exercises. The matter has been investigated and no reports of sightings have been made to .fllY Department. The matter is being discussed with the Departments of Navy and Air and I ,shall advise you if any further 1nf ormat1on is gained. R. E. Baudish, Esq. , 54 ood Street, J;,AtiE COVE, New South tr1ales. Yours s1neerely, (J. O. CRAilER) 11in1ster tor the Army. National Archives of Australia I ref.er to ,~ letter ot tbta 28~ ober 1957 ,attn1 tor fntormatlm rep~tng the elghtiq of dentltitd tlytq obJeoti 1n the Yian1v or m1litaJ7 exen ~h u.tte-r baa been 1nveat ted am no report of e!.ghttnp baYe been d to thi De~en\. Tbe aat\er vlll be dlacue1ed with IV" eollguee ot the Dep&raenta ot lavy and ilr and JOU v.U1 be nat1ed 1f ~ turthtr i nforu.t1m le ga.in9d. / R.E. BAUDISH Eeq., 54 WOOd St., . Lane Cove, 1at10 al 1\rcr 1ves of A strat1a !aura 1noer811'., (J.O. CRAMER) Mintet.r tor the Ar1r17- etter herewith for Chief of the General Sta s~ J>epartlMn\ ot laV Seont17 D9111rta\ ot Air r herewith National Ar<,,h1ves of Australia ON-WEAL TH OF AUSTRALIA. MINISTER FOR THE ARMY. L1tl1 November, l_ 57. uECRETARY. The attached letter is from an influential reside11t i11 my electora.te. I would, therefore, appreciate a suitable reply to this connnunication. ~;~ini s ter. National Archives of Australia RAou L E. BAUDISH 54 Wood Street, Lane Cove N.s.w. ~ar 1'rr . Cramer, with the successf'ul launching of their satel- lite, another problem has gained considerably in importance : unidentified flying objects. Recently, in discussions with members of the R.AA. F., I have been told that these have been observed over Australia on a number of occasions, particularly in several instances when mili tnry exercises were being held. I think it is the responsilibity of the Govern- menb to make whatever information has been gathered, avail- I shall be pleased to have your views in this matter and remain, The Hon. J . 0 . Cramer, lif. H. R. ~tinister for the Army Yours truly National Archives of Australia